Live Review: Winston Surfshirt, Wallace, Crooked Letter

Crooked Letter warms us up on a cool Thursday night. The Nigerian native and all-round friendly fella gets us moving with some beautiful flow coming from his decks. He is joined on stage by Rara Zulu and we are captivated. Her beautiful voice meshes delightfully with the afro-centric beats. Crooked Letter then takes the mic himself and shows there is surely more to come from this local than meets the eye. One to watch.

Wallace has a voice that is out of this world. It is so effortlessly soulful, full of warm ambience, and so perfectly pitched that you'd be excused for thinking it is pre-recorded. With jazz-styled backing from Novak Manojlovic on laptop and keyboard, the often off-kilter production is a perfect match for Wallace's singing. Diaspora and Raffled Roses are highlights of a wonderful set.

With just two singles under their belt, Winston Surfshirt have really come out of nowhere this year. Two sold out shows at the Oxford Art Factory are proof of the popularity they've spun from their smooth hip hop sounds.

So what do their other tracks sound like? Let's just say they don't stray too far from what you've already heard. That's not a criticism, more an observation that you really don't need further reason to just let your body move to the beat that flows from track to track via a drum loop pedal (where's the drummer?).

You'd be excused for being surprised that tracks like their latest single Ali D are being performed by five white guys from the North Shore. With more than a little bit of influence from the likes of Kendrick and the West Coast hip hop scene, their music oozes soul, while the trombone and bass add a jazz and funk tinge. The crowd pop to their singles as eponymous frontman Surfshirt visibly sweats up a storm on stage and is thrown a roll of Chux wipes.

Their encore is a raucous mixtape of covers from Kendrick Lamar to Pharoahe Monch to Ol' Dirty Bastard. The crowd seems to dig it, but is it necessarily the best way to finish a soulful, cruisy gig? There's still room for this group to progress and we'll be listening in keenly.